Tough loss for Canada at women’s world volleyball championships

OSAKA, Japan - Canada experienced the highest of the highs and lowest of the lows on Tuesday in its fourth round robin match at the women’s world volleyball championships.

Needing a win to have any chance of advancing to the second round of the competition, Canada came out swinging and took the first two sets before watching Turkey come back to capture the match in five games 19-25, 20-25, 25-14, 25-17, 15-8.

“We’re going to sit with it for a couple of hours, this is a pretty emotional loss,” said Team Canada captain Tammy Mahon. “There was a lot riding on this game for us.”

With the loss, Canada drops to 0-4 in Pool D play.

Sarah Pavan led Canada with 17 points, on 14 kills, two blocks and an ace. Tiffany Dodds chipped in with 11 points and Mahon had seven, including three service aces.

Neslihan Darnel had 25 points for Turkey, while Eda Erdem added 19.

“We came out strong, like we wanted to,” said Mahon. “It was a good start for us, but unfortunately, two sets aren’t enough in volleyball.”

Canada showcased an impressive all-around game in the first two sets, but things started to unravel during the third set and they simply couldn’t find a way to recover.

“In the third set, our passing fell apart and when you’re passing falls apart, you can’t run an offence,” said Pavan. “Our passing fell apart and we weren’t digging balls either and when you’re not doing either of those things, it makes it very difficult.

“I can’t tell you why it happened. I wish I had the answer.”

It was a painful loss to endure, but this was another valuable lesson for Canada on the importance of closing out matches.

“We see what we can do when we play disciplined and are focused,” said Canada’s head coach Arnd Ludwig. “Maybe Turkey didn’t play well in the first two sets, but a team only plays as well as you let play. We did a great job there and this is what we have to keep up.

“We saw that we had the chance (to win) and we’ve improved in every match. We’ve had small steps and then a very big step.”

Canada wraps up the round robin on Wednesday against the Dominican Republic.

“Tomorrow is another day and another big game. We’ll take what happened today and learn from that,” said Mahon. “The Dominican Republic is a big rival for us in the NORCECA zone. We want to come out tomorrow with the same fire and that bad taste in our mouth from losing and not let it happen again.”

Canadian roster for women’s world volleyball championships October 29-November 10 in Japan.